Southern Infrastructure 1922 – 1934: Stations / Signalling / Trackwork

Southern Infrastructure 1922 – 1934: Stations / Signalling / Trackwork; Photographs from the E Wallis collection.

Between 1922 and 1934 the late E. Wallis was employed by the Signal Department of the Southern Railway. During this time he went to work with a glass-plate camera recording scenes and locations – not trains – often from the lofty vantage point of a convenient signal! The result is a veritable feast of detail hitherto largely ignored by contemporary photographers or either impossible to access. The Wallis archive is considerable, in excess of 1,000 period images, few of which have ever been seen before. Now thanks to the Wallis family, Noodle Books have been granted permission to the entire collection. This new volume has collected together some of the very best images covering all three areas of the SR, fromthe SECR, LBSCR through to the LSWR. Detailed and informative captions complete a book that surely deserves a prominent place on the bookshelves of every Southern enthusiast.

Modellers should strive to provide a realistic environment to run their trains through, both inside and outside the railway fence. As such good information about the buildings, signals and the area immediately adjacent to the railway is very important. Southern Infrastructure 1922 – 1934 provides numerous good quality (for the most part) photos of all the things mentioned above without a train getting in the way. Also, Mr Wallis, being a railwayman, had access to areas from which photos are not usually taken (for example from the top of signals). If you are a modeller looking to model a specific location even if that location is included in here, this is probably not the book for you. If, however, you have an interest in railway history or are creating a model of a fictitious Southern location from grouping up to, probably, the sixties, this book will provide a lot of information to help you get the detail right.

Highly recommended